Tamil Heritage Trust is an organization run by a few enthusiasts based in Chennai. We organize monthly talks on issues related to heritage and culture. We also organize intense heritage workshops.

Friday, January 3, 2014

The Dawn of Green Revolution and the Need of Brown Revolution, Dr. Arunkumar

தமிழ்ப்பாரம்பரியம்

(Tamil Heritage Trust)

presents

The Dawn of Green Revolution and the Need of Brown Revolution

by

Dr. Arunkumar

at 5.30pm on Saturday, January 4th, 2014

at Vinoba Hall, Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya, T Nagar.

About the Topic:

Green
Revolution is generally referred to the “Rise of Agricultural Sciences
to Feed all the Mouths”. Norman Borlaug was the father of the green
revolution he suggested to declare “Hunger as a Disease”. However the
debate or in-fact the rivalry between the “Organic farming community”
and the "Inorganic farming community” these days is raging beyond
control. Did the raise of the Agricultural science usher in the
revolution required, immaterial of the colour given to is green, white
or blue? Were the policies framed to implement the science and
technology programs for the green revolution, planed and debated before
implementing? Did the green revolution really meet its objectives?

Before answering those
questions one of the most important questions needs to be answered.
Did “the world” really need a Green revolution? We will have to trace
back the history of development of agriculture (traditional of
agriculture) and the science and technology developments associated with
it and those that influenced the growth of Agriculture over a period.
These informations form a great linkage on how our culture cantered
around the food and nutrition of those days. Where food was used more
and medicine was used less. It is such a irony that the current system
and lifestyle uses medicines more and food less and yet the life
expectancy is less. Are we in the right direction so as to sustain
living as human species? This talk will also address how the future
systems and concepts of farming will address the challenges of
ever-growing population and ever shrinking arable land and depleting
water resources.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Arunkumar received his Ph.D in Biotechnology and did
most of his research in Molecular Plant-Microbial interactions. He started his career with Sakthi Soyas Ltd
and did research at Bharathiar University.
He has contributed to more than 20 international research articles in
journals and delivered more than 70 lectures in the domain of Biotechnology and Intellectual
property Rights in reputed institutes including Bharathiar University,
IIT-Chennai and MSSRF, Chennai. He
served NGM College, Pollachi for 7 years of which 5 years he lead the PG
Department of Biotechnology.

In 2006, he teamed up with two other Ph.D holders in
incorporating a Limited Liability Company and named it BioAgeS innovations (p)
Ltd. He is also a partner of iVyukthi
Asseters in which he offers services on Intellectual Asset Creation and
Management Systems and Technology Transfer, Monetization and Commercialisation.
He is Passionate about conservation of
Biodiversity and was a founding member of the Wild Wing Society. He is also an active proponent of Global
warming and Action group for Green House Gas (GHG) mitigation.

It was delightful to discover that Dr Arun was someone I had already met - he came with Kumaraguru College students, when some of us were guiding them around Mamallapuram!

There was a long debate with several questions and disagreements after his presentation. Personally I disagree that with the speaker's contention that the Green Revolution was some kind of American / Western / corporate conspiracy with farmers as helpless victims. One of the followup questions was whether organic farming could sustain the size of populations, which was not answered. I believe that organic farming is incapable of feeding 7 billion people, artificial fertilizer and pesticides are essential to farming today. But top soil damage, water abuse or misuse, are major problems.

I also believe there were several Green Revolutions, four in my count, with the fourth being about water management, dams, multipurpose projects etc. Dr Arun spoke about Haber-Bosch and Borlaug, but may not have considered Diesel-Benz. I was unaware of it until I read Matt Ridley's book The Rational Optimist : we often need someone like Ridley to point out the obvious. Anyway, his credentials, experience and credibility far outweigh my book-knowledge and internet learning, even if it is from well-credentialed experts.

I have written about the other three green revolutions. The one on Borlaug is in Tamil -essays in English on Borlaug's contributions by MS Swaminathan, Bill Gates, ChandraBhan Prasad and others are available online. My other two blogs are in both Tamil and English. Here are my blog links:

Every year, we organize an event called Pechchu Kachcheri, with a host of talks on a single topic. This year, it is going to be on Mamallapuram. To learn more about this event, click here. Mamallapuram Pechchu Kachcheri

Every year, we go on a study trip to a heritage site. In Jan 2013, we had visited Srirangam. You can follow the photos, audio, video, lectures, reading materials and more from that trip here. Srirangam Site Visit

Mahabalipuram - Unfinished Poetry in Stone, A coffee Table book in English by Prof. S. Swaminathan. Photos by Ashok Krishnaswamy. Click here to buy.